ANDY GREEN, the world’s fastest man will be rocketing into the Northern Cape next month (July) to deliver a keynote speech at the upcoming AMESA Congress in Kimberley.

Green, a former Royal Air Force fighter pilot and the current holder of the World Land Speed Record (WLSR) will be sharing his passion for maths and the world of opportunities that it could open up for children.

The congress is the 20th annual event for the Association for Mathematics Education of South Africa (Amesa), and it is expected to attract over 900 maths teachers from across South Africa.

Green will be delivering the key-note speech at the event, where the conference theme is Demystifying Mathematics. The theme was chosen as it reflects the challenge faced by almost all developed countries as to how to make mathematics more exciting in the classroom and hence grow more young scientists and engineers.

Green, who is the driver of BLOODHOUND SSC (SuperSonic Car), also holds a maths degree from Worcester College, Oxford, where he graduated from in 1983 with first class honours and a love of flying.

While he is currently the fastest man alive – he holds the WLSR of 1228km/h – he will push the record to 1300km/h in 2015, and even further in 2016, when he will attempt to break the 1000mph (1609km/h) mark in a car, an increase of 31% over his current record.

This increase has never been seen before in the history of the WLSR and it indicates a triumph for the mathematics involved in the aerodynamic design of a supersonic car.

Andy, who as an active fighter pilot used to say that he has the best day job, and as the driver of the Bloodhound SSC, that he has the best hobby in the world, uses his math skills not only in helping to design BLOODHOUND SSC, but also in helping him to fly fast jets and drive a rocket-propelled car.

"Whether I’m flying jet fighters or driving at supersonic speeds, I rely on the technology around me and I need to understand how it works.  As a mathematician, I have the best training the world to do this. Maths is something that I use every day, in the RAF and in with Project BLOODHOUND, to achieve world-class performance and to do it safely," said Green.

One of BLOODHOUND’s cornerstone initiatives is to inspire new generations of engineers and scientists, and to stimulate children – in the UK and in South Africa – to study subjects like math and science.

The Bloodhound project in South Africa has already reached over 450 schools, by either visiting them or having them signing up at events to receive free posters, videos and Cisco TV programmes.

Amesa was founded in 1993 with the unification of nine previously divided mathematics education organisations in the country. The organisation aims to promote mathematics education and, in particular, to enhance the quality of the teaching and learning of mathematics in South Africa at all levels.

The 2014 congress will be held from 7 to 11 July.

According to Amesa president Alwyn Olivier, the aim is to break down the stigma that maths is “difficult and elitist”.

“In both the academic field and in the curriculum, it is assumed that every child can do maths, and it is our job to make it exciting, interesting and understandable,” said Olivier.

“Bloodhound’s educational aims goes hand-in-hand with the idea of ‘demystifying’ maths and I want Andy to inspire the teachers to inspire their pupils to get excited about maths.”

Green agreed.

"Maths is a part of all our lives, and you don’t have to be a fighter pilot or racing driver to benefit from it," he said. "All our lives are affected more and more by science and technology, and maths is the basic language of all science.  If you can ‘speak’ mathematics and you know how to use it, there is nothing you cannot do! "

Green will spend the week from 7 to 10 July in Kimberley, where he will also give a presentation to the general public on Bloodhound at the William Humphreys Art Gallery on Wednesday July 9 at 18.00hrs.

Dave Rowley, Bloodhound education programme director in South Africa said, “the importance of mathematics is very often forgotten, yet it is the school subject that opens up a myriad of career opportunities to young people. There will be a variety of Bloodhound mathematics resources available at the AMESA Congress, plus one of the desert 95kg aluminium test wheels and an opportunity for delegates to test their driving skills in getting the car to 1 600km/h - and stopping safely!”.

For more information contact

Dave Rowley
Education Director, South Africa
Bloodhound
082 657 6861
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or

Schalk Mouton
Communications Manager, South Africa
Bloodhound
082 739 9637
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